Here’s a table I adapted from Louis Rossman’s video on the levels of piracy, grey areas and his morals and ethics on it. (spreadsheet file)
I tried to condense each rank and make it less about a specific type of media like CD audio or DVD video, along with a table of simplified characteristics of each situation. Of course more levels can be added and there are many situations not covered. This hierarchy is simply the way Louis ordered it from more to less justifiable; he respects people can think about it differently and I do too. He suggests that he doesn’t really care about people that pirate without giving a shit about creators, and that he only has a problem with people who aren’t honest with themselves about their motivations.
Setting legality aside, what ‘level of piracy’ is morally or ethically acceptable to you?
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It’s important to be cognizant of various worldwide perspectives, considering the part of your comment on political discourse.
Some countries don’t care that everyone pirates everything and anything.
Others, like Japan for example, have copyright ingrained both in the laws and in the culture. Some think “right clicking and saving an image on a public website” is theft. It’s part of the reason Sony and Nintendo are so anal about copyright and how there are no Manga sharing sites located in Japan.
So not only the laws different everywhere what is legitimate discourse changes too.